A “much-awaited” biography of Pope Francis has been unveiled by a leading theologian at St Andrews University.
Pope Francis: His Life and Thought by Professor Mario Aguilar is considered the official biography of the Argentinean Pope and will serve as a guide to all future historical and theological works on him.
The biography, which was launched at a colloquium in St Andrews, is based on the writings of the Argentinean Cardinal Bergoglio later to become Pope Francis in the context of his research in Chile and Argentina.
Chilean-born author Mr Aguilar is chair of religion and politics at St Andrews.
He said: “This is the first biography to analyse Pope Francis’s life and thought in the light of both Argentinean history and the original Spanish texts of his writings, speeches and homilies.
“It is much awaited by those who follow his life because it brings new insights and documents that could settle the role of Cardinal Bergoglio during the military period of Argentina and the foundations for the role of Pope Francis today within the international arena.”
The biography ends with Bergoglio’s election as Pope Francis, the first Latin American to become Pope, and a pontiff who has captured the public imagination because of his simplicity and closeness to people, especially those rejected by society.
Mr Aguilar added: “The election of Pope Francis in March 2013 marked an important moment within the Roman Catholic Church, a moment of continuities and discontinuities.
“On the one hand, he is the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be elected to lead his church. On the other hand he provides continuity through a focus on the needs of the poor that goes back to John XXIII and Vatican II.
“A traditional thinker, theologically speaking, since being elected he has spoken repeatedly of the need for the church to be poor and to serve the poor.”
Mr Aguilar has written extensively on the church in Latin America, Africa and Asia, including A Social History of the Catholic Church in Chile (nine volumes), The History and Politics of Latin American Theology (three volumes), and Theology, Liberation and Genocide.
He is a Camaldolese Benedictine Oblate and has lived in Scotland for more than 20 years.
The launch event was introduced by the university’s principal Professor Louise Richardson and included talks by Father Gero McLoughlin SJ, a Jesuit promoter of Ignatian spirituality from Edinburgh; Dr Dorothea McEwan, a theologian and writer at the Warburg Institute, University of London; and Dr Michael O’Sullivan SJ, a Jesuit from All Hallows College, Dublin.